Healthy breakfast options - no biscuits allowed!

Sep 11, 2016

I keep hearing these adverts for biscuits that are “made for brekkie”. Well, as a qualified nutritional therapist I thought to myself ‘this sounds too good to be true’. So, I thought that I’d look into it.

Ingredient 2 - white flour at 27.1% of total in the biscuit. That’s plain white flour, the same that’s in white bread. This foodstuff is so nutritionally inept that by law they have to add nutrients to it – hence the Magnesium, Iron, Vitamin E and B1.

Ingredient 3 - Next on the list is sugar. Plain sugar. If you think you should be eating plain white sugar for breakfast then good luck to you.

Ingredient 4 - Then rapeseed oil. Great, pure fat. But, remember this is ultimately a biscuit / cookie, whatever you want to call it. So, should we be surprised at the poor quality ingredients?

Ingredient 5 - Next, more sugar! Cane sugar this time. Oh dear.

Then various raising agents used in mass production of baked goods.

Then salt. Oh dear, oh dear.

Barley Malt Syrup? More sugar essentially. On it’s own, a better option than sugar, but here it’s not a sugar substitute. It’s in there with plain white sugar and thus adding to the sugar count.

Invert sugar syrup – more sugar!

The sales pitch for this biscuit is that it provides “sustained energy release”. In essence this referring to the fibre in the product (fibre from the wholegrains), which no doubt is more than in most biscuits. But, lets compare the fibre in these biscuits to other foods.

Weight in grams

Calories

Fibre in grams

Belvita Golden Oat

50

215

4.25

A large apple

223

116

5.4

A medium banana

118

105

3.1

2 peaches

196

76

3

Porridge oats made with water

50

182

4.3

Peanut butter (good quality)

50

310

4.2

Wholegrain bread (good quality)

100

247

7

As you can see, fruits have a far better fibre to calorie ratio. As do porridge oats. Which brings me on to another part of the sales pitch for this product. The makers of this product are keen to state the importance of having breakfast (and to this I agree). This product is aimed at those who don’t have time to make breakfast. Well, in my opinion fruits are the ultimate fast food. Keep your fruit bowl stocked and you will always have a portable fast food option to grab on your way out the door. Fruit is vastly nutritionally superior to these biscuits, containing anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients aplenty.

Oddly, the makers of this product suggest it as an accompaniment to fruit or yoghurt, perhaps in recognition of the fact that these biscuits are not designed as a replacement for a proper breakfast. In my opinion, these biscuits are best left on the shelf and instead you should aim for a nutritious breakfast made from whole foods.

So this weeks tweak: start the day the right way with a nutritious whole food breakfast that is definitely NOT a biscuit!

With this in mind I’ve listed a selection of healthy and "on the run" breakfast options below:

A handful of nuts (walnut, almonds, cashews)

A handful of raisins

An apple

A banana

A good quality peanut butter (Irish brand Life Force / Meridian / Biona) on banana or apple or rice cake or quality brown bread. Or straight off the spoon!

If you have a few more minutes - how about trying one of these healthy breakfast options

Top with grated apple, cinnamon, honey and then anything else you fancy – blueberries, pears, strawberries, nut and seeds in any combination - delish!

Chia / oats / coconut pudding:

Soak chia seeds in coconut or any other milk. Layer with oats and fruit and top with honey. Can be left in the fridge overnight or made in 5 minutes in the morning and take it with you to work!

Best -

David

Every week we bring you a teeny tiny health tweak that is easy to implement and over time brings great health benefits. Not every tweak will be for you, but if you even implement half of them, you will gain a much healthier lifestyle. Get a weekly tweak to your inbox - sign up